Lara Schiffbauer provides a quick paced, well thought-out contemporary fantasy adventure in Finding Meara. The story begins in the “normal” world where Hazel and her friend, Tavi finish a run. On her return to her apartment, Hazel’s world literally explodes as a monster blows her door out and flies away with her in his clutches through a portal into a fantasy world. Chaos ensues, adventure begins, relationships are forged and dangers loom.

Lara Schiffbauer

So what sets Finding Meara apart? There is an ebb-and-flow between worlds. Often in these stories, you step through the proverbial looking glass and don’t return to the “real” world. People (and others) travel to and fro between Boulder, CO. and Adven Realm. Also, at least for me, I’ve read a lot of teens/pre-teens who are involved in these adventures; in this case, it’s a twenty-something, which lends a slightly different flavor. (Indeed, there are a couple of quick sexual references that you might not want your teen to read.) Another nice change of pace is that the protagonist Hazel and her companions are good. They aren’t perfect, but they aren’t bad with hidden good inside. They are willing to sacrifice for one another. I love that the humor is organic and natural to the story. Finally, the writing sets it apart. While it is conversational and casual, it’s matched exactly to the tone of the characters, the story, and the adventure. Ms. Schiffbauer eschews the oft-used convention of having the folks in the fantasy world talk as if they live in circa 1700 whilst the contemporary people sound as if they were unable to pass eighth-grade English. All speak in a reasonable contemporary manner. Finding Meara is a perfect example where the writing is great not because it’s quotable or perfect prose, but rather because it does its job – it deftly moves forward the story with solid dialog between the characters.

I’ve read a number of novels lately where the protagonist just isn’t an enjoyable character; not so here. Hazel is more than just nice, she’s interesting, likable and willing to lead her own life without being unrealistically brave or clever. She’s fully human, with a number foibles, but is, on the whole, someone you would like to have as a friend. You have an opportunity to see her grow throughout the story.

What did I love about Finding Meara?

a likable protagonist who doesn’t seem to have an ax to grind, but is fully her own person.

Good “good guys”

Genuine dialog, settings and people. You didn’t get a sense of anything artificial about this made up world or the characters who people it.

Smart, diverse action that fit together into a single story.

It was just plain fun to read. Ms. Schiffbauer never had to use artificial literary tricks to get the reader to stay with the story. It was never a question of “finiding out what happened next” but always a desire to delve more into the story and the people.

Fredrick (wild “cat” extraordinaire)

What was I less fond of?

Hazel’s fairly impatient with her relationships. It seems like if there’s any lack of clarity from the guy, it’s off. Maybe you might expect that from a teenage girl, but not a woman in her twenties.

There’s a point where Hazel comes to realize how much she cares about Quinn (a younger boy and family relation), but there was little real build up to this moment. Unlike most of the story, the familial affection seemed to just happen and didn’t feel organic.

There’s a scene that involves an invisible fence and dogs; I don’t think they have quite the power suggested in the story.

Clearly those are quibbles. Overall, this is a fun read with smart writing, a real protagonist, loyal friends and well-paced action. Saying any more would involve spoilers. Besides, the joy of reading Finding Meara isn’t in any one element of the book. Dissecting each aspect belies the fact that it’s how the whole comes together. In this case, the whole is greater than it’s parts. So, just buy & read the book. You’ll be glad you did.

I had the privilege of interviewing Rysa Walker, author of the Chronos Chronicles Series which include previously reviewed Timeboundreviewed here and Time’s Edgereviewed here. Our discussion ranged over the books, writing and publishing. We’ll break these into two parts. The first part focuses on the books and the second part focuses on publishing and, in particular, some of the controversy around Amazon’s relations with authors and the rest of the publishing industry. Nicely enough, this interview came the day after Hatchette and Amazon came to an agreement.

Interview with Rysa Walker – Part I The Chronos Chronicles

Interview with Rysa Walker – Part 2 Publishing and Amazon

Thanks to Rysa for discussing her writing, books and experience in today’s volatile publishing world.

One of the first things that struck me about Gilded, besides its ridiculously cool cover designed by Katrina Damkoehler with Cliff Nielsen doing the artwork, was how fresh the story seemed. If you examine any individual element, it’s been done before: protagonist girl with abilities of which she is unaware and a willingness to go where angels dare not tread, the cool and slightly shy boyfriend who is the object of the gorgeous girl’s desire, the over-worked and slightly overbearing widowed father who hides his true care and concern under a gruff exterior and the insanely powerful, other-worldly bad guy. Then again, I and the best chefs in Paris can use the same ingredients to prepare a meal but you’ll want to eat the end result of their cooking over mine. While there is nothing really new under the sun, Christina Farley melds the characters, worlds, writing style and narrative elements to make something fresh and new. The writing is clear, the dialog crisp and the storyline twisty enough to be fun and keep you guessing while not so winding that you can’t remember your way.

Christina Farley

Ms. Farley spent 8 years teaching at an international school in Seoul, Korea. She brings that experience to present to us two wonderful characters in the story: modern-day Korea and its mythic counter-part in the Spirit World. I loved these settings; obviously others have used Seoul as their story setting but this was new for me and done in such a way that it wasn’t just a backdrop. Another aspect I love about Gilded is the sense of community and family it presents. While we have a kick-butt girl, she is not a fearless lone ranger. Jae Hwa Lee feels fear and danger, but feels the stronger call of preserving family doing battle with Haemosu, a demi-god and she does not do so alone. While she recently relocated from L.A. to Seoul, she has family and has generated friendships in Seoul. So while the world is new to her, she has some background and more than a little help. As the spirit world breaks through her already stressed-out, competitive world with all the challenges of being a teen, she is definitely feeling her way through all that’s coming at her fast and furiously. There are mythic creatures, morphing creatures, an epic bow for her archery skills and a brilliant love interest with a plot that keeps you guessing. What’s not to love? This is a fun book to read for teens and adults. The pace is quick, but not over-whelming and isn’t a detriment to full-bodied characters and a well-described world. This is well-written, smart YA literature, which is another way of saying it well-written, smart literature, full stop. I also seriously love that Ms. Farley knows how to end a book, especially a book that’s part of a series. Alas, that’s all too rare these days.

Greta Jung

As I often do, I went between the Kindle and Audible versions (using Whispersync for Voice to keep a smooth transition). Greta Jung did a beautiful job narrating, fully allowing you to immerse in Jae’s world. Her pacing was spot on; I particularly liked her smooth-talking Haemosu.

I rarely do this in a review, but I saw a few reviews on Amazon I wanted to address. We all differ in tastes, but I was surprised to see some fairly virulent negative reviews. As I dug into them, they basically came down to suggesting that Jae Haw was an idiot because she wouldn’t do what others, especially adults, told her to do. She would also knowingly go into situations without having everything in control and well thought out plan. I know, right? A teenager that doesn’t always obey her parents or exercise good judgment. Shocking. Now I’m all for teens obeying their parents (I have four teens) and those in authority over them, however, disobedience and sneaking out are not particularly shocking things for a teen to do, Moreover, if her character did not take risks, we would not have a hero. It’s easy to sit back in our chairs reading and think, “No Jae Haw, that’s really a bad guy.” It’s a little easier to spot them when you’re not in the midst of the action. Also, what safe and good choices does she have? All of the good ones seem fraught with risk. Normally when I see those superior-minded reviews that the protagonist (and, hence, the author) doesn’t have a clue, I usually just ignore them and think, get a life. There just seemed enough of them that I thought it worth addressing. As Ben Okri put it: “Where there is perfection [in a character], there is no story to tell.” Jae Hwa is not perfect, but dumb? Not so much.

So, if you like fun action in an exotic setting whilst learning a bit about another culture, this is the book for you. It’s an absolutely fun read. I’ve already pre-ordered Silvern which is out September 23rd. Woohoo! One benefit of starting a series a bit late into the game is less wait time for the next entry.

We jump and wave.We point and hint.We summarize and inform.We find a way to solve the puzzle:How will they know? We find a way to be found.

Piccadilly Circus is all about vying for attention, but it might not be the kind of attention you want

Pictures, covers, design and video are pointers to our content. They summarize our work, hint at our story and whisper out our myth. They support and concentrate focus on the story. They are the body language for a narrative voice.

Gerard Butler points the way

I’ve been struck recently by the importance of covers and design for books. As often happens when attending to something, it brings your attention to similar ideas, somewhat akin to seeing Mini Coopers everywhere after you buy a Mini Cooper. It seems I’m running into, or recognizing more explicitly, the importance of visual signs towards musical, written and other creative content. Now, of course, the music, book, short story or other content is king; it is the main event. However, these signs help bring attention to and summarize that content. I’ve seen this in Molina Visuals‘ focus on “Imagination for Classical Music.” I’ve seen it played out in the design elements of The Hollow Crown’s Richard II and in a picture portraying how we are swept off our feet reading books. There is a long tradition of this focus in SciFi magazine covers. In this post, I intend to reflect on the use of visuals as signs to non-visual content to highlight their importance. Letting people know and drawing them to content is tough in this world saturated with movies, TV, books, music and magazines from a plethora of sources. We have more access to more content than ever before, whenever we want, and wherever we want. A lot of ink is spilled on how to draw folks in with advertising, social media and events. It’s even more critical for independent artists to be aware of how to do this well since they’re responsible for overseeing it all. Visualization is one way to draw attention (or, at least avoid being over looked) and visual design is one way to keep interest.

Now I’m no SEO guru, advertising genius or visual design artist – I’m simply a very left-brained IT guy coming at this as a consumer: reader, movie watcher, music listener and short story fan. I’m sharing what I’ve seen folks do that works to draw me in. The other part of that left-brain thing is that I notice and analyze patterns. So let’s look at this through examples:

Molina Visuals – Their mission is to “create a strong and unified concept for each project based on an in-depth knowledge of the artists and their work. Our collaborators are classical music enthusiasts and have expertise about the music industry.” I came to know their work through Anne Akiko Meyers’s Four Seasons project and that’s the example I’ll use here. Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Stagioni is an oft played piece of classical music that is part of the standard repertoire. It is not only in concert halls, but it is heard in restaurants, hotels and, yes, elevators. How do you make this music project stand out? Well first and foremost, you play it exquisitely while putting your own voicede to it. Say it with me: content is king. Ms. Meyers, does this with aplomb but she does more. She has her whole site revamped with interactive elements done by Molina Visuals that display different seasonal elements to match the seasons in the work. The CD cover and liner match the site. So now we have a cover:

a video:

and website that provide a consistent message of elegance that seems to flow right out of nature, much like her playing appears to be a natural extension of herself, flowing, as it were, from her soul. She has a visual story that is indicative of her play and of the concept of the album. She has a visual hook to bring us in for a listen. Her website actively engages us as we scroll through the site we traverse the seasons which provide a snippet of sound and video related to each piece.

Now it’s likely that most independent writers and musicians would find funding this kind of experience a challenge. There is much that you can do on a reduced scale. The salient point is this: don’t give short shrift to design. Get the best cover as practicable. Put thought into it. Think about the font used. How the elements are brought together. Of course, it needs to match your content. An awesome steampunk girl on a novel about WW I-era female pilots won’t do, nor will Comic Sans font.

by Jaynekk @SolarTwinWin – OK so you might change your content in order to include something as cool as this. :)

Find a way to visually express your imagination.

Another great example is to visually present an idea. Here’s a visual representation of being swept off our feet reading by Michael CS Photography:

The Words I Live In by Michael CS Photography

This is a meta-picture, if you will. It tells a story about stories. It is arresting and will not be overlooked. So even if it doesn’t directly relate to the explicit narrative, if story telling is a theme in your work, it a viable reinforcing element.

Science Fiction magazines have a long and illustrious history of using visual elements to both invite and hint at what is inside the covers. These often include art as well as short stories. The covers have been interesting since the inception of the genre. Examples can be found from pulp magazine early days such as the 1920s era of Amazing Stories; people are so enamored of the earlier covers that they still vote for their favorites:

Then there’s the more modern magazine such as Bastion Science Fiction which recently produced its inaugural issue. The May issue has an arresting cover with the innocence of a girl on swing (and so we expect a verdant, bucolic background) juxtaposed to a mars-like red planet and dangling precariously from a cliff. Not only does this draw our attention, but the warm tones are reminiscent of the warming days of Spring while the sans serif font points to a modern world with 10 in Bast10n hinting at technology. All of the design elements go into telling the story of Bastion and inviting us into their content of top notch short stories such as Gary Emmette Chandler’s dystopian tale The Endless Flickering Night, where children are juxtaposed to a life digging underground after a wasting war above ground (about which more in an upcoming review).

We even see visual elements within a visual production. While Shakespeare plays are all about the words, that is his gift after all, visual elements help emphasize the message. An excellent example of this is The Hollow Crown’s Richard II.

Richard II “Persecuted”

Mr. Winshaw portrays Richard II as a king in denial, who is “deeply spiritual” and untouched by the world and yet using worldly powers for his own desires. He sees himself as an almost martyr; persecuted by Bollingbroke and the other nobles who take the royal crown from the rightful bearer. Indeed, it is in his loss that he waxes his most poetic.

Before I have shook off the regal thoughts Wherewith I reign’d? I hardly yet have learn’d To insinuate, flatter, bow, and bend my limbs: Give sorrow leave awhile to tutor me To this submission. Yet I well remember The favours of these men: were they not mine? Did they not sometime cry, ‘all hail!’ to me? So Judas did to Christ: but he, in twelve, Found truth in all but one: I, in twelve thousand, none. God save the king! Will no man say amen? Am I both priest and clerk? well then, amen. God save the king! although I be not he; And yet, amen, if heaven do think him me.

We see this (I might add, clearly false and self-serving) identification with Jesus’s betrayal in his movement and his stance:

The physicality of theater, of movement and voice, gesture and tone bring about the vision for a character along with the words. So besides being sign posts to work, visual elements play a role in emphasizing meaning in a work.

A final example is the use of fonts and layout. Fonts should be indicative of the work. One of the things I love about the English Standard Version Study Bible is its layout and its fonts. They make no bones about the production and indicate quite clearly

Type Size:

Text: 9pt Lexicon; Notes: 7.25 Frutiger

Page Layout

Single Column

Additional Features

Sewn Binding

It represents careful design and order to emulate the God, whose image they bear, in their vocation of producing bibles. The scripture content is no different than any other ESV bible, but it is a joy to read (alas the crispness of the font loses something on this page, go here for better representation):

So, we need to care for cover and font, web site and video. While it’s not the case that if you build out the visuals, they will come, it won’t hurt and it does help. If you are publishing on Kindle, use Kindle Format 8 (KF8) and the latest version of KindleGen and take care of the details like using a publishers font if you have something perfect (otherwise the readers can choose), “real” page numbers and X-Ray. Use great covers and book trailers:

We have many visual weapons in our arsenals to highlight our work, to provide visual support and to enhance the experience of our content. Woo me. Draw me in. Help me to know about you. I have a lot of content available to me and relatively little time. Make me want yours. Of course, the main way I’m going to want your content is that I know you from other work and like it, someone I respect likes your work (telling me via reviews or word of mouth) or something stands out to raise my curiosity. On the flip side, avoid driving me away with a slapped on photo and cheesy bold yellow gothic font (unless you’re going for campy). Inexpensive doesn’t have to mean terrible. Use stills and background classical music (copyright free) to make your book trailer ala Timebound. There’s a thousand ideas from folks much smarting than me about ways to go about it. The main point is to go about it, to take design and visuals into consideration when making your content available. Avoid simply defaulting to out of the box. Don’t ignore possible ways to bring attention and focus. By doing so, you’ll also bring attention to other creative folks (because, of course, you’re going to cite, get permission and, in all other ways, support your fellow artist.)

OK, just feast your eyes. Take it all in. This is an ideal example of a nearly perfect book cover. The folks at ARGH! Oxford have done a beautiful job with Cassandra Rose Clarke’sThe Mad Scientist’s Daughter. Not that I want to over-analyze beauty, but this particular cover accomplishes so much while being breathtakingly gorgeous. First, let’s look at the design. The font tells you this has a literary focus, not a science one. A lone man on a lone road. There’s some serious estrangement going on somewhere in this novel, with possibly some longing. (OK, I may be reading this in after the fact of, well, reading, but it fits). The moon plays a role and it’s not just a big, ole honkin’ cool moon; it has slight overlay of bits that aren’t showing like an architect’s blue print. There’s the slight fuzziness of it all. Somewhat like impressions that don’t quite come into sharp focus. Then there’s the line – A Tale of Love, Loss and Robots. I’m all in. Right now, before I even open a page (virtual or otherwise).

I first encountered this cover some time ago, even before publication I think. Knowing, at the time, pretty much nothing about it and the author, I still almost bought it (or pre-ordered) on the spot just for the cover and the brief publication blurb. However, my TBR list was already quite extensive, so I waited. I trynot to buy books if I know I can’t get to them anytime soon. Since that time, I’ve read Ms. Clarke’s Assassin’s Curse (really good but very different novel; more here); I’ve also listened to Kate Rudd narrate The Fault in Our Stars; she performs The Mad Scientist’s Daughter as well. I would encounter the book from time to time and, strangely enough, I kept on thinking I already bought it (wishful thinking). Well, I finally ended the charade and purchased the book, Kindle & Audible versions. (I’m a little over two-thirds done. It’s amazing. Every time I think I’ve got everything down, it surprises me. I’m absolutely loving it and Ms. Rudd’s performance.)

Here’s the kicker: the cover was so stark in its beauty that it stood out each time I saw it. Even as I moved on to other works I already planned to read, it stuck with me. I could not forget it. Resistance was futile; it was inevitable that I would buy the book. Now that’s visual power. I am a logophile. I thoroughly believe that content is king. Moreover, if Ms. Clarke’s writing didn’t live up to such a cover as this, the disappointment would likely have put me off her work forever. Nicely enough – it was a perfect fit. The salient point is this: great covers still sell books in a virtual world. To my indie author friends – seriously, if at all possible, pay for great graphics and design.

Some covers of Angry Robot books

Which brings me to the other part of this equation – fitness. The cover needs to be more than just beautiful. It needs to fit the work. All of it – from font to finish & tag line to tint – it all needs to work together. At the beginning of this post, I argued that this was a particularly apt cover since it seemed to resonate so well with elements of the story. I may have overstated my case, but I believe it’s true nonetheless. ARCH! Oxford seems to have a great sense of this, especially when they work in concert with Angry Robots. Some of their covers aren’t what I would call beautiful, e.g., Wesley Chu’sLives of Tao, but they are a perfect fit. They convey a bit about the book in a memorable way. While this doesn’t solve the challenge of how you get your book to stand out in a world flooded with books, it certainly seems one way to help.

Lest you think I’m blinded to all other designers, another book that I initially decided to read almost completely based on the cover is Madeline Ashby’siD, cover work done by Martin Bland. This is a sequel to vN and I still read it when I rarely read out of sequence (I still have to finish vN). That’s visual power. This brings up another point – Angry Robots gets the importance of good covers and, overall, good design. They almost always insure a great cover to fit the books they publish.

Finally, another set of perfect (non-Angry Robot) covers come from the collaboration of Victoria Maderna & Federico Piatti for Michael Martinez’s incredibly fun The Daedalus Incident which presumes a pure-play modern science fiction with a hint at old world, kind of like how the book starts:

I would also argue for the importance of font choices and design inside of Kindle books (and ebooks in general); that it’s worth the effort to embed your own font (even if the Paperwhite’s Palatino Linotype is awfully sweet) and yes Amazon publishing allows this as well as control over design elements and illustrations, but that’s another post.